In Battle Over Health Care Costs, Private Equity Plays Both Sides

[ad_1] Insurance companies have long blamed private-equity-owned hospitals and physician groups for exorbitant billing that drives up health care costs. But a tool backed by private equity is helping insurers make billions of dollars and shift costs to patients. The tool, Data iSight, is the premier offering of a cost-containment firm called MultiPlan that has attracted round after round of private equity investment since positioning itself as a central player in the lucrative medical payments field. Today Hellman & Friedman, the California-based private equity giant, and the Saudi Arabian government’s…

The horrors of TMJ patients: Chronic pain, metal jaws, and futile treatments

TMJ patients faced challenges in the United States, from ineffective treatments to risky surgeries like total jaw replacements. Despite advances, TMJ disorders remain poorly understood and under-researched, leaving many patients trapped in a cycle of pain and surgeries. [ad_1] A TMJ patient in Maine had six surgeries to replace part or all of the joints of her jaw. Another woman in California, desperate for relief, used a screwdriver to lengthen her jawbone daily, turning screws that protruded from her neck. A third in New York had bone from her rib…